Major League Baseball's Ron Washington testament to perseverance

Facing the Yankees didn't make Ron Washington nervous. Neither did playing the Red Sox.

And five trips to the American League playoffs, including one to the American League Championship Series, as a base coach for the Oakland Athletics, didn't turn the trick, either.

"It must mean a lot, because I'm getting butterflies," Washington said Tuesday morning. "I'm nervous. I've been in front of 72,000 people before, and it didn't bother me. I think what it is, I just want to send the right message."

He didn't need to worry. Simply being at John McDonogh High School, standing in front of the student body and being honored by his alma mater on Ronald Washington Day, the manager of the Texas Rangers was sending the right message.

So the living testament to perseverance and achievement via hard work didn't have to offer a word of wisdom, though he did plenty of that. Because his story speaks for itself, his accomplishments and the route he took to attain them provide a good set of footprints to follow and principles to apply.

"I just want to let these kids know that anything that they feel like they can dream about, they can achieve. I'm an example," Washington said. "But I also want them to know that it takes a lot of work, a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, a lot of focus, a lot of attitude, a lot perseverance. It takes a lot to reach the goal that you want to reach, especially in the way that society is today. The other stuff is all worth it when you put in your time, but you've got to put in your time."

Granted, few if any of the students probably had any idea who their school's famous alumnus is, and probably didn't know he is one of 30 managers in Major League Baseball. Washington, John McDonogh Class of 1970, and his wife, Gerry (whom he met in high school and married just after graduation), still reside in New Orleans in the offseason.

The truth, though, is that nowadays baseball isn't a big hit in the public school system. It's not a home run -- and most times, not a single, double or triple, either -- among African-American boys.

The number of African-American players in the majors, about nine percent, is near an all-time low, and the search for ways to increase that number is on.

But Tuesday wasn't about feting baseball or lamenting numbers so much as it was about McDonogh honoring one of its own, a never-give-upper who knows a few things about overcoming long odds.

Washington was one of 156 kids invited to a tryout for the Royals in 1970. He was the only one selected.

He didn't debut in the majors until 1977 -- with the Dodgers -- and despite hitting .368 in 10 games, didn't return to the majors until 1981, with Minnesota

"It's a game of a lot of failure, and if you can't persevere through that failure you won't hang around very long," Washington said. "You've just got to pay your dues."

Dues paid, Washington went about the business of hanging around. He played for Los Angeles, Minnesota, Baltimore, Cleveland and Houston. He hit .261 with 20 homers and 146 RBIs in 564 games.

"He didn't make his big-league debut until his late 20s, and still played 10 seasons," Texas General Manager Jon Daniels said

And then he coached, beginning in the minor leagues in 1991 with the Mets, then in the majors with the A's until 2006, before getting the call from the Rangers.

There's nothing simple and easy there, no quick fix. It's just a ton of sticking with it on the good days and the bad, and working up the ladder.

Finally the rungs led to a job as Rangers manager on Nov. 6, 2006. Texas has finished 75-87 and 79-83 in his two seasons. That's nothing to shout about, unless you know the Rangers basically are under reconstruction, with Washington as the foreman.

The Rangers like the job he has done enough that his contract option was picked up this year. Daniels thought enough to make a trip to New Orleans to participate in his manager's day.

"Ron is kind of shepherding us at a time where we're going through a transition," Daniels said. "When he started in 2007, we had a more veteran team. We made some trades, and we went to a rebuilding process over the last couple of years. The organization has undergone a huge transformation; we now have the No.¤1 farm system in the game.

"But it put Ron in a tough spot, because he's been at the forefront of that. While we're developing the farm system, we haven't been going out and signing big free agents, making big trades. So Ron has been developing a lot of kids, trying to explain what we're doing to the veteran players, and I think he's doing a very good job with that

"There were some trying times last season. We gave up 900 runs (actually 967); that's 900 times the manager can sit there and wince, but he didn't. Early last season, in April when we were struggling and everyone wanted to point fingers, it would have been very easy for Ron at that time to change the way he went about things or gotten away from what makes him what he is. But he didn't.

"He stayed the course, he stayed even-keeled, he communicated, he was positive -- all the things you love about him. If you can do that when things are tough, you're going to be much more successful when things are good, and I think we're on the verge of seeing that."

Which would be another testament to Washington, another way for him to send the right message.